Is TikTok Still Relevant For Businesses In 2023?
Any business that wants to make sure it remains relevant needs to keep up with the times. If you’re still posting on MySpace and shunting other businesses out of your Top 8 in 2023, then it goes without saying that you need to modernise a little. Of course, it’s usually a little more complex than that, and fading trends are harder to spot.
For a good few years now, TikTok has been one of the most popular apps for both regular users and businesses, and it’s easy to see why if you spend just a little time with the app. Its engaging content, ease of use, and fiendishly addictive For You algorithm make it hard to stop using TikTok, even for a little while. Is it still relevant for businesses, though? We think so, and here’s why.
TikTok is basically free brand awareness
Posting content on TikTok is essentially a way to shore up brand awareness without putting in too much effort. With the right dedicated social media manager (which might even be you!), TikTok can work wonders for your business, and all you need to do is create engaging, informative videos. That’s obviously harder than it sounds, but even if you’re inexperienced when it comes to TikTok, it’s still well worth setting an account up for the brand awareness it’ll bring you. There are even ways out there to get free followers on TikTok so that you’ve got even more people to check out what you’re up to.
Ads on TikTok are effective
When we talk to our business-owning friends about TikTok, the same refrain seems to rear its head time and time again. “TikTok ads don’t feel like they’d be worth it,” they say, and we have to correct them every time, because it turns out that TikTok ads are actually extremely effective. Research shows that 67% of TikTok users believe the app gives them new brand and product ideas, and 57% of TikTok users say they’ve been inspired to buy something based on TikTok. Through a combination of traditional ads and content marketing, TikTok can really work wonders for you.
There’s an engaged community ready for you
All social media apps live and die by their communities; an app is nothing if it doesn’t have people to use it, after all. TikTok, though, is special in this regard, and anybody who spends any length of time on the platform will tell you that as well. There’s something about TikTok’s community that gives it a unique edge that other social media apps don’t have. Maybe it’s the authenticity that TikTok users seem to prize above all else, or maybe it’s the inclusivity that comes with a younger generation. Whatever it might be, TikTok has an engaged, switched-on community, which hopefully means your business can expect more engagement from a TikTok page than other social media.
TikTok is very brand-friendly
There are built-in features on TikTok that brands can take advantage of in order to build awareness and drive sales. For instance, have you heard of branded hashtag challenges? Essentially, they involve brands creating hashtags for users to create content around, and they also sometimes see brands creating their own filters or stickers to augment that content. You’ll have to be a bigger brand to take advantage of that one due to the costs, but there are lots of other ways TikTok supports brands, and many of them won’t cost you anything at all.
The user base for TikTok is huge
You’ve probably heard plenty about how popular TikTok is becoming, but those whispers don’t do the full scale of TikTok’s dominance justice at all. According to DemandSage, TikTok currently enjoys a staggering 1.05 billion active users, and of those users, 885 million are aged 18 or over, which means a potential audience of almost a billion if you’re advertising. Naturally, you’re never going to reach everyone with an ad campaign, but the colossal user base, combined with the engagement we spoke about earlier, means you’ve essentially got a captive audience.
Not being on TikTok makes you seem out of touch
We hate to invoke the stick over the carrot, but there’s also a social currency element to being on TikTok. If you don’t have a TikTok page, many people will assume you’re either taking some kind of moral stand against TikTok (which may be understandable, depending on your brand’s values) or that you’re not aware of its existence. The latter is far more dangerous than the former; every brand wants to be seen as current and switched-on, and if you’re eschewing TikTok because you don’t know what it is, then you might seem out of step with your contemporaries and competitors. Speaking of which…
Your competitors are on TikTok
Here’s another reason to pick up a TikTok page if you haven’t already: your competitors are almost definitely using it. If that doesn’t bring you out in a cold sweat, we don’t know what will. Your competitors are likely already taking advantage of the audience and benefits that TikTok brings, and if you’re missing out on that, you’re basically giving your competitors carte blanche to do whatever they like. Don’t let potential business fall by the wayside; it’s completely free to sign up for TikTok, whether you’re a brand or an individual, so there’s really no reason not to download the app and start creating right now.
